It Was the Worst of Times
by maddieliz6
Summary: An addition to the Bates/Green storyline. What if Green attacked Anna a second time when he came back to Downton?


She couldn't have imagined what it would feel like to see her him again but seeing her attacker sitting so casually at the servant's table twisted her stomach into knots. The blood drained from her face as they made eye contact, and without a second thought she turned and rushed to the bathroom squeaking out some excuse about forgetting something upstairs. Once the bathroom door was shut she immediately emptied to contents of her breakfast into the commode. She couldn't stop her body from shaking. Whatever progress she had made after the attack were disintegrated. Her constant state of fear was finally subsiding into the background until she laid eyes on him. Just his face alone brought back visceral memories of that night. Memories that she had been fighting so hard to get past. It took her nearly ten minutes to get her body to feel steady enough to leave the safety of the loo. Her body was on complete alert as she made her way back down the main hallway. To her relief, Mr. Bates turned the corner and his face lit up when he saw her.

"Anna," he said lovingly, "Where've you been? I was looking for you."

"I…I..I was in the loo," she stammered out. His brows furrowed with worry in response.

"Are you well my love? You seem a bit pale." She hoped he didn't notice the slight shudder that spread through her body when he caressed her cheek.

"I'm alright. I…I'm just feeling a bit nauseous." Which wasn't a complete lie, she told herself.

"Oh. I'm sorry. You should go lay down. I'm sure Ms. Hughes wouldn't mind."

"No, no, no, I'm fine."

"Truly!" She said in response to his look of reproach. "I think the feeling has passed."

That, in fact, was true. Just his presence alone was enough to ease her fear if only for moment. He wasn't sure if he fully believed her, but arguing at this delicate stage of their relationship was out of the question for him. So he dropped the subject and planted a soft kiss on top of her head before setting out on the rest of the day's tasks.

That night, Lady Mary had decided to get to bed earlier than usual so Anna found herself with extra time to finish her duties before her husband finished his. She decided to take her time polishing Lady Mary's mauve dress shoes. A small smile slowly etched its way onto her face despite the stress of the morning. She loved this time of day. Although she felt exhausted, she welcomed the weariness in her bones with a bold satisfaction. To her it meant that she had accomplished something that day. And the quiet stirring of the downstairs while the upstairs began their slumber felt quite tranquil. The energy and buzz of the house during the day was invigorating, but could often prove to be overbearing. Seeing that John still hadn't finished with his Lordship, Anna decided she had time to finish at least two more, so she grabbed the dirtier ones and left the boot room to clap the mud off of the shoes outside. On her way down the hall she saw that the light was still on in Mr. Carson's office. Poking her head in the doorway, she found exactly what she thought she would. Mr. Carson and Ms. Hughes sat at the small table by the door, each with a glass of wine in their hand.

"Oh hello, Anna," Mr. Carson said.

"Anna!" Ms. Hughes beamed.

"I'm just popping out back to finish the last of Lady Mary's shoes, but I thought I would say goodnight."

"Oh how thoughtful." Ms. Hughes said.

"Indeed," Mr. Carson smiled kindly. "Goodnight Anna."

She smiled at them both before stepping out into the cool night air. She cringed as the sound of the shoes banging together rang throughout the courtyard, hoping that the noise wasn't too loud. She was so focused on the shoes that she didn't notice the man putting out his cigarette butt in the shadows of the courtyard. As she was moving the now dirt free shoes into her left hand to reach for the door handle, two strong hands grabbed her from behind, one around her waist, and one over her mouth to stop her from screaming. Her body froze in utter terror. Her attacker half pushed, half dragged her to the side of the entry way and slammed her body against the wall.

To her horror, Mr. Green's face appeared before her out of the darkness just like it had so many times before in her nightmares. But this wasn't a dream. Reality sinking in, she desperately tried to wriggle out of his grasp, thinking that this time maybe she could escape him. She was stronger this time but he only squeezed harder. A wicked smile spread across his face that brought tears to her eyes. Shoving himself even closer to her he whispered, "I don't think we truly finished our little rendezvous the last time I was here did we?" She grimaced in response. "I was so looking forward to seeing you again when Lord Gillingham told me we would be returning here."

While he was distracted with taking he belt off, she bit the fingers covering her mouth. Green growled in pain but it wasn't enough for him to completely remove his hand. Nevertheless Anna tried to muster as much strength as she could to get him off her.

"You bitch," he sneered. He slammed the back of her head even harder against the metal wall. "I'm only trying to give you a good time, so why can't you just enjoy it."

Everything around her spun but she knew she couldn't give up. Not yet.


End file.
